He studied her for a moment, sticking a finger under her chin and lifting her face. She didn't speak Japanese, but she understood what was happening. 'Yes. She will do.' He returned his attention to his Iron Guard. 'Madi, I am sorry for the loss of Yutaka. You worked well together for many years.'
'He was strong,' Madi replied, 'and his death was avenged.'
The Chairman nodded. 'Excellent work, my son. Intelligence shows that your operation has inflamed the American public. Their government is in an uproar. There has already been violence against Actives.'
'Thank you, Chairman.'
'You have shown great initiative. Some doubted your loyalty, but I never did. I saw in you a heart that was pure. You took the life of your own flesh and blood in my service. I am pleased. From this point forward, you are to be First amongst the Iron Guard until you perish or I discover someone stronger.'
He'd never been so humbled. Madi dropped to his knees and bowed clear to the floor. This was the greatest moment of his life.
'Rise, First Iron Guard. We have much work to do.' Madi rose quickly. 'Keep our heading toward Edo. The Kaga will accompany us.' The Chairman turned to one of the Cogs. Madi recognized the little man as the 731 officer who had given him his first kanji. 'Shiro, take your men and prepare the device. I want it ready to fire immediately. I do not wish to step foot on the soil of my home until I can do so as the conqueror of the world. Is that understood?'
His initial thoughts had been right. The Chairman had been waiting for this since 1908. He would waste no time. The targeting marks that had been carved in America were still there, undiscovered all this time. He'd checked them himself on one of his early assignments. They were intricate designs carved right into the bedrock beneath a New York subway. The Geo-Tel would provoke the Power, and it would be drawn toward the Tesla- designed geometries. Their greatest threat would be crippled in one strike. Every other country in the world would fall right into line or risk having a spy scratch a mark under one of their cities. The war would be over before it had even been declared.
It didn't matter where the device itself was located. It was truly a global super-weapon. The initial test-firing had been from Tesla's lab, but the Power had risen up and burned a thousand miles around where Imperium scouts had put the targeting mark in Siberia. If it hadn't been for those damn Grimnoir, the device would have been in the Chairman's hands decades ago.
In a shallow, selfish way, Madi was thankful for those Grimnoir who'd captured the device. He'd only been ten in '08, and he'd been living in the area that would have been immolated. He would have died along with everybody else and never had the opportunity to become an Iron Guard. Fate had smiled on him, and since it spared his life by thwarting the Chairman then, it was only right for him to help put history right now.
The Cog bowed and scurried away with the others. The wizards still made Madi uncomfortable, but they had their uses, just like the Iron Guard, or even that madman Tesla. Everything was falling into place, all for the Chairman's inevitable reign, and Madi would be at his side until the end. FS Bulldog Marauder The sky was black with rain. Clouds roiled and lightning crashed. The winds were blowing at terrible velocities, but Southunder's magic was cushioning them from the very worst.
'I think we've lost them,' Barns said.
Sullivan was standing at the very front of the glass bubble, watching the energy. 'We have to go after it.'
'We don't even know where it is,' Southunder said. He was sitting in his captain's chair, rubbing his eyes with his palm.
'They'll take it right to the Chairman, and one minute after he puts it together, America is gone… We need to at least warn them.'
Barns turned around from his console. 'Who'd believe you? I don't believe you, and I'm sitting right here.'
Southunder rose. 'I can at least alert the Grimnoir. They know people. Maybe they can… hell, I don't know, start evacuating… I still remember the spell, I just haven't done it for so long. Damn Pershing's orders! I never spoke to anyone, just in the off chance that the Imperium would find it.' He went to the wall and pulled down a small round mirror. 'Mr. Parker, go to the galley and get me some sea salt… It's been a long time, hiding, all for Black Jack, and all for nothing.'
'We'll make it right.' Sullivan vowed, even though he had no idea how. UBF Tempest Francis was biting his nails. The sun was down. They were on the outer edges of a bad storm. The teleradioscope was still getting a return telling them the approximate location of the Tokugawa. It was moving west again, heading for Japan. This was their last chance. They were moving along at full speed to intercept.
The boarding party was below. He wished he had more time, then he'd personally speak to every one of them, knight, mercenary, and other. The Tempest wasn't designed for such things, but Lance had told him that they'd land right on top of the giant Tokugawa, lower the ramp, and it would be just like parking at an airport. He had a sneaky feeling it wouldn't be that easy, and suspected that Lance concurred. Either way, he'd be joining them at the last minute.
Faye had joined them in the cockpit and was wandering around, looking at all the flashing lights, remarking on how pretty they were, and he felt a little nervous that she might start pushing buttons just to see what would happen. She was geared up for battle, armed with a short Auto-5 shotgun and wearing crisscrossed bandoleers of brass buckshot shells. Her hair was tied up, and Francis realized that he was staring at her, so he went back to trying to be a leader for the UBF men. He didn't like the idea of her going in with the boarding party one bit, but Lance had been adamant, they needed every warm body they could get.
Pain shot through his ring finger, as if it had gone molten. Lance had been talking to the navigator, and he jerked as his ring ignited too. He'd never felt one burn so hot. It was like a knight was trying to contact everyone. The signal was so strong that all the Grimnoir in the world had to be feeling it. He shouted at the nearest crew member. 'Get me some salt!' Lance started clearing maps from the navigator's table.
'I don't think I would have took the oath if I knew it was gonna try and cook my fingers off,' Faye said as she watched them make the circle. Dan Garrett had come running. The stubby man was so weighed down with extra ammo that he had a hard time climbing up the ladder. Heinrich Faded through the wall and took his place off to the side. Francis could see that Heinrich's wrist was still bruised and discolored from where Delilah's magically enhanced grip had crushed it in the morgue.
A minute later the circle was complete, and light from the shining disk filled the little room.
He did not recognize the Grimnoir in the circle. He was older, weathered, totally bald, with wrinkles around his eyes that suggested he was a man who spent a lot of time laughing and smiling, except those eyes were hard now and there wasn't an ounce of laughter left in him. 'Attention all Grimnoir knights. This is Robert M. Southunder, once of the knights of New York.'
'Former knight,' came another voice with a French accent, and the circle suddenly shifted to another man that Francis had never seen. 'A disgraced knight, turned to brigandry.'
'The vagabond returns,' said a grey-haired woman. She sounded English. Francis had never seen so many people communicating through a magic circle before. The background noises told him that there had to be many others listening as well. The Power drain to the creator had to be enormous.
'Stick it, Harriet,' Southunder said as the circle flew back to focus on his face. 'There's no time for your politics. The Chairman has the Geo-Tel.'
There were collective gasps from every corner of the world.
'Preposterous!' bellowed someone else, a hundred other people started to talk and now the circle was spinning so fast that Francis thought he was going to be sick.
There was a brain piercing whistle. Faye pulled her fingers away from her lips. 'Y'all shut up and let the man talk already, jeez-louise.'
The circle returned to Southunder. 'Thanks. I can't keep this up for long. The Chairman recovered the last piece. Did we ever find where they'd marked New York?' There was a spinning chorus of negative replies. 'Then we've got to assume that he'll fire it at the same place as last time. We need to evacuate the Eastern Seaboard. Contact the President, the Army, do whatever you have to do.'
'Things have changed since you left, Robert,' the Frenchman said. 'Actives have no favor in the halls of politics. They will not listen to us.'
'Then get off your asses and do something,' Southunder barked. 'Live up to your damned oaths for
